No. 14: Under pressure / crush injuries / beaten / force

Whumpee: Percival

The Mercian-based bandits were smart. They had set up camp in an old abandoned castle that was close enough to the border to be questioned, but Arthur was smarter. He, along with his trusty Round Table knights, had tracked them from the paths of the Forest of Aescetir where they had been terrorizing Camelot's poor village people for the better part of a month.

They had quickly found out that the bandits were from Mercia based on the coats of arms they wore, and they were violent enough to be followed instead of immediately launching into battle. Arthur wanted to know more about them and why they chose this particular spot of the forest, so the knights became spies instead, looking, observing, and reporting back what they had found. Finally, after a few weeks, Arthur felt as though he had enough information to go after these bandits without starting a war with Mercia in the process, and all seven knights (and Merlin) rode out the next day, intent on finding and capturing these bandits.

It didn't take more than a few hours to reach the castle, and they tied up their horses on the outskirts of the trees, sneaking in past the guards. A quick trip up a small stone staircase, and they were at the main dining hall. About twenty bandits milled about, gathering food, drinking wine, or snoring on their bedrolls that they'd scattered on the ground.

It didn't take long for the seven knights (plus Merlin's usual help) to either dispatch the bandits or tie them up for questioning and trials. With the wintry sun almost set, Arthur had decided to spend the night in the castle and ride for Camelot in the morning. Percival and Gwaine were exploring the dungeons to see if it was suitable for their new prisoners, while the others collected firewood and made camp in the main hall.

"It certainly is cobwebby, eh?" Gwaine batted away the spiders as he talked.

"I don't think this place has been used in years," Percival replied, trying to keep his mouth as closed as possible, batting away cobwebs that his shorter friend didn't see.

When they got to the lower-most level, they split up, each intent on getting the scouted area clear and finally getting to eat dinner and lay down. They each had a torch, which was welcome, even if the light didn't go too far. Percival was rounding a corner when he felt a stone give way, and he looked up in time to see a big stone gate come crashing down. In his haste to get away from the crash, he tripped, and the stone gate fell across his thighs. Percival couldn't stop the shout coming from his lips, even as cobwebs rained down on him.

Gwaine wasn't too far away when he heard Percival's shout of pain, so it was a quick run back to where they had come. He barely registered seeing his friend's torso coming out of a big stone wall, and Percival was gasping for breath as he ran up. "Gods, Percival! Are you alright?" he shouted.

In between heaving gasps of pain, Percival gave Gwaine a look. "OK, fine, I know you're not alright," he quickly amended, doing a quick look over the situation. "It looks like just your legs are trapped, and – oooh- we'll need some extra manpower to get this gate up." He looked at Percival, who was looking quite shocked and worried at the whole thing. It had happened so fast, seeing Gwaine take stock of the situation had finally made him do the same thing. Gwaine took his small canteen off of his belt. "This is full of water instead of ale today, OK? I need you to drink a sip every 2 minutes." He waited for Percival to acknowledge him. "Every 2 minutes, OK? It's important."

"'Kay." Percival grunted. "Get help fast."

And with those words, Gwaine ran up the five sets of stairs they had just come down. As soon as he found the rest of the group and got his breath back enough to explain the situation, Arthur had come, along with Lancelot, and Merlin. Sir Leon and Sir Elyan stayed back to watch over the prisoners and their fires, after making the group promise them that they'd come back if more muscle was needed.

Percival didn't look good. His face had a shiny sheen of shock, and he was shaking a bit when they got to him. Between Arthur, Lancelot, and Gwaine, they got the heavy gate up a few inches, enough for Merlin to pull Percival back from its edges. He immediately went into physician mode, checking Percival's vitals and giving quick updates.

"His heart's beating too fast, and he already has a low fever," he reported, noticing Gwaine's water canteen. "Did you give him this?"

"Yes, and instructions to drink every two minutes."

"Good… that should help with the damage…"

Arthur furrowed his brow. "How is water going to help with his legs?"

Merlin let out a sigh, his preliminary check of Percival's unconscious form complete. "Sometimes, when someone's trapped for a while, they get free, everything seems fine, but then their bodies just… give up. We don't know why. But we do know that when they drink water, it happens less." He glanced up at the three of them. "We need to splint his legs, but the rest of him looks OK. Can someone lend their cloak? It's going to be a long trek up."

After piling Percival into Lancelot's cloak, they started to make the long trek up the five flights of stairs. Merlin may or may not have used magic to help speed the process along after the second set of stairs – Percival was their biggest knight, and also the one with the most muscles. That meant carrying him for any stretch of time would be hard, let alone up five small stone staircases.

When the small group got to the fire, Merlin found some long, skinny pieces of wood for splints, and he started tending to Percival's fever. Sir Leon got dinner started, and the rest of the crew started to plan the next day in earnest.

"We need a small wagon," Arthur said. "There's no way he can ride like this."

"There was a small village to the southwest," Lancelot volunteered. "I can ride there before daybreak and see if they can loan us one."

With that issue taken care of, the knights started to bed down for the night, with Elyan first for night watch. Merlin was still up with Percival, but luckily the nine remaining bandits seemed to calm down and fall asleep where they were tied up.

The next day as promised, Lancelot rode before daybreak and got two small wagons: one to transport their bandits and the other for Percival. They rode slow, mindful of the creaks and jolts of the wagons, and made it to Camelot just after nightfall. Percival went straight up to Gaius's chambers, with Merlin close behind, and after delivering the prisoners to the cells to await their trial, the rest of the knights disbanded to their rooms before making their way to wait and watch outside of Gaius's chambers.

The next morning, Merlin poked his head out and woke up Gwaine, Elyan, Leon, and Lancelot. "Gaius says that if you want to mope around, you can clean out his leech tank," he said with a small grin. "There's been no change throughout the night – but his fever seems to be a little better."

The knights looked at each other, then quickly left. As much respect as they had for Gaius, cleaning out leeches was too much. Merlin went back inside, getting ready for another day with Arthur. Before he left, he paused by the door. "Promise me you'll send someone for me no matter what – if he gets better or worse?"

Gaius nodded from his place beside Percival's still form, his splinted legs hanging over the edge of the bed by a good six inches. "Of course, dear boy. You did a good job with his splints, but Percival was crushed by stone for more than a few minutes. He needs time to rest." Merlin nodded sadly, slipping out the door.

He didn't have much time to think about Percival that day, what with writing a speech to the blacksmith's guild, doing the laundry, polishing Arthur's boots and armour, mucking his stables, and mending his clothes. It wasn't until late afternoon that Merlin could escape away back to Gaius's chambers to check on Percival. When he walked in, Gaius was staring at Percival, concentrating on something.

"Wha-" Merlin could only get out before Gaius hushed him.

"I think he's waking up." And sure enough, there was a flutter of Percival's eyelashes as his brows knitted in pain and he let out a soft groan.

"Eugh," he muttered. "What happened?"

Gaius was in full physician mode. "What do you remember?"

"Um, we were getting bandits. I killed three and captured two. Gwaine and I were exploring" – his eyes opened fully with a scared look in them. "Is Gwaine OK? Where is he?"

Gaius put a steady hand on his chest. "Gwaine's just fine. Calm, that's it, breathe in – and out," he coached.

With a deep breath, Percival seemed to remember that his legs had a heartbeat of their own. "Ow," was all he said, raising his head to look at his splinted extremities.

Gaius was there just in time with a very strong pain potion. "Can you wiggle your toes?" All ten toes danced under Percival's command. "Good! Then you can go back to sleep."

"But I just woke up," Percival said, interrupted by a yawn. "How does a toe jiggle make me so tired?"

Gaius smiled. "Rest easy, Percival. All will be well soon."

Merlin broke his silence, overjoyed that Percival would be OK. "Will he ever walk again? Fight? Ride? Do all the knightly things that Arthur requires?"

Gaius sighed, nodding. "I believe he will. Provided that he rests with these splints for some time, then he'll need to work to build up the muscle again. I think you got to him just in time."

Merlin couldn't help the smile that spread across his face. He was just lucky that they were all home in one piece – and he couldn't wait to give the good news to the rest of the knights.

-Fin-